Ethereum may soon introduce a cap on gas consumption for individual transactions under a new proposal co-authored by Vitalik Buterin and researcher Toni Wahrstätter.
Proposal EIP-7983
Proposal EIP-7983 recommends limiting individual transaction gas usage to 16.77 million units. This measure aims to enhance network performance and mitigate the risk of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Currently, a single transaction can theoretically consume an entire block’s gas limit, creating potential instability across the network.
Benefits of the Cap
By enforcing a hard cap on transaction-level gas consumption, EIP-7983 aims to mitigate this vulnerability while keeping the overall block gas limit unchanged. If implemented, any transaction that attempts to exceed the 16.77 million gas threshold would be automatically rejected during block validation. This change would ensure a more equitable allocation of network resources and enhance fee predictability.
Development and Discussion
The proposal was published on July 6 and remains under community discussion. If adopted, it could play a key role in boosting Ethereum’s scalability, security, and stability. Buterin also released a separate blog post focusing on protecting Ethereum’s censorship resistance as the network scales.
Introducing a gas limit for transactions could be a significant step in Ethereum's evolution, helping improve its scalability and security, and fostering a more stable network operation.
